The Cotch
Club Legend
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- Richmond
Graham Polak just a pawn in Richmond's ploy to get Ben Cousins
By Damian Barrett
December 15, 2008 THE AFL Commission will on Monday do as it always does - make judgment on a contentious matter, then stoically stand by it as everyone else takes a perch on a soapbox.
If it is true to form, it will apply due consideration to Richmond's request to have Graham Polak placed on its rookie list, then dismiss it.
If it is true to form, it will remove most, but not all, emotion from its task, and therefore not link the Polak request with the one that has actually motivated the Tigers in to making it: Ben Cousins.
It will be well aware that in saying no to the Tigers on Polak is not saying no to a Cousins comeback, as it will know Richmond already have a pick in Tuesday's pre-season draft, regardless of the Polak outcome.
Polak becoming a rookie, going by the competition rules on which the AFL regularly prides itself, simply cannot happen.
His case is not at all similar to that of Adam Ramanauskas, an out-of-contract cancer sufferer allowed by the AFL commission to be listed as an Essendon rookie in 2007.
Polak is contracted for next year and can easily be transferred to the long-term injury list at any stage the Tigers see fit.
Before anyone misconstrues what is being said here, it needs to be remembered that Polak, clearly in a huge battle to overcome injuries caused when hit by a tram this year, will physically be no better off by being on the Tigers rookie list.
There is not one person who does not wish him the best outcome, but his best outcome is not going to be affected one bit by the status he holds on the Tigers playing list.
Richmond now see a chance to have Cousins on their list as the best outcome for themselves, and are simply using Polak in that project.
The Tigers should stop trying to be cute on this Polak topic and just say so.
There are many key football people adamant Richmond's request on Polak should have been turfed out by the AFL football operations department.
They are asking many questions, one even describing as incompetent Richmond's belated addressing of the matter, coming as it did two weeks after the national draft and only days before the pre-season draft.
Another said the drafts system would be compromised as never before if the Tigers' request succeeded.
There was even an observation of irony that Cousins, a renowned AFL rule-bender who infuriated the AFL in doing so, would benefit most if the AFL decided to bend its own rules.
The AFL commission - currently comprising Mike Fitzpatrick, Andrew Demetriou, Sam Mostyn, Bill Kelty, Christopher Lynch, Bob Hammond, Linda Dessau, Graeme John and Chris Langford - gave Cousins a chance to play in 2009 when it outlined a strict but fair set of drug-testing conditions to which he has agreed.
That means Cousins's name should not even be raised on Monday when Polak is discussed.
The AFL commission should do to Richmond what the club has been doing to everyone else since last Thursday and call their bluff.
Tell it "no" on Polak, then sit back and watch the Tigers in their regular state of panic as they attempt to spin their way out of their own spin.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24799023-23211,00.html
By Damian Barrett
December 15, 2008 THE AFL Commission will on Monday do as it always does - make judgment on a contentious matter, then stoically stand by it as everyone else takes a perch on a soapbox.
If it is true to form, it will apply due consideration to Richmond's request to have Graham Polak placed on its rookie list, then dismiss it.
If it is true to form, it will remove most, but not all, emotion from its task, and therefore not link the Polak request with the one that has actually motivated the Tigers in to making it: Ben Cousins.
It will be well aware that in saying no to the Tigers on Polak is not saying no to a Cousins comeback, as it will know Richmond already have a pick in Tuesday's pre-season draft, regardless of the Polak outcome.
Polak becoming a rookie, going by the competition rules on which the AFL regularly prides itself, simply cannot happen.
His case is not at all similar to that of Adam Ramanauskas, an out-of-contract cancer sufferer allowed by the AFL commission to be listed as an Essendon rookie in 2007.
Polak is contracted for next year and can easily be transferred to the long-term injury list at any stage the Tigers see fit.
Before anyone misconstrues what is being said here, it needs to be remembered that Polak, clearly in a huge battle to overcome injuries caused when hit by a tram this year, will physically be no better off by being on the Tigers rookie list.
There is not one person who does not wish him the best outcome, but his best outcome is not going to be affected one bit by the status he holds on the Tigers playing list.
Richmond now see a chance to have Cousins on their list as the best outcome for themselves, and are simply using Polak in that project.
The Tigers should stop trying to be cute on this Polak topic and just say so.
There are many key football people adamant Richmond's request on Polak should have been turfed out by the AFL football operations department.
They are asking many questions, one even describing as incompetent Richmond's belated addressing of the matter, coming as it did two weeks after the national draft and only days before the pre-season draft.
Another said the drafts system would be compromised as never before if the Tigers' request succeeded.
There was even an observation of irony that Cousins, a renowned AFL rule-bender who infuriated the AFL in doing so, would benefit most if the AFL decided to bend its own rules.
The AFL commission - currently comprising Mike Fitzpatrick, Andrew Demetriou, Sam Mostyn, Bill Kelty, Christopher Lynch, Bob Hammond, Linda Dessau, Graeme John and Chris Langford - gave Cousins a chance to play in 2009 when it outlined a strict but fair set of drug-testing conditions to which he has agreed.
That means Cousins's name should not even be raised on Monday when Polak is discussed.
The AFL commission should do to Richmond what the club has been doing to everyone else since last Thursday and call their bluff.
Tell it "no" on Polak, then sit back and watch the Tigers in their regular state of panic as they attempt to spin their way out of their own spin.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24799023-23211,00.html
